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LOVE SONGS 






^^^^ 

THE MACMTLLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 



To E. 

I have remembered beauty in the night, 
Against black silences I waked to see 
A shower of sunlight over Italy 

And green Ravello dreaming on her height; 

I have remembered music in the dark, 

The clean swift brightness of a fugue of Bach's, 
And running water singing on the rocks 

When once in English ivoods I heard a lark. 

But all remembered beauty is no more 

Than a vague prelude to the thought of you — 
You are the rarest soid I ever knew, 
Lover of beauty, knightliest and best; 
My thoughts seek you as waves that seek the shore, 
And when I think of you, I am at rest. 



PREFATORY NOTE 

Beside new poems, this book contains lyrics 
taken from "Rivers to the Sea" (The Macmillan 
Company), "Helen of Troy and Other Poems" 
(G. P. Putnam's Sons), and one or two from an 
earlier volume. Thanks are due to the editors of 
Harper's, Century, Scribner's, Poetry and other 
periodicals for their permission to include poems 
hitherto unpublished in book form. 

For permission to set any of these poems to 
music, application should be made to the author 
through the publishers. 



[vii] 



CONTENTS 
I 

PAGS 

Barter 3 

Twilight 5 

Night Song at Amalfi 6 

The Look 7 

A Winter Night 8 

A Cry 9 

Gifts 10 

But Not to Me 11 

Song at Capri 12 

Child, Child "13 

Love Me 14 

Pierrot 15 

Wild Asters 16 

The Song for Colin 17 

Four Winds 18 

Debt . 19 

Faults 20 

Buried Love . . 21 

The Fountain 22 

I Shall Not Care 24 

After Parting 25 

A Prayer 26 

fix! 



CONTENTS 



Spring Night 

May Wind 

Tides 

After Love 

New Love and Old 

The Kiss 

Swans 

The River 

November 

Spring Rain 

The Ghost 

Summer Night, Riverside 

Jewels .... 



PAGB 

^27,. 
29 
30 
31 
32 
33 
34 
35 
36 
37 
39 
41 
43 



II 

Interlude: SONGS OUT OF SORROW . . 45 

I. Spirit's House 47 

II. Mastery 48 

III. Lessons 49 

IV. Wisdom 50 

V. In a Burying Ground .... 51 

VI. Wood Song 52 

VII. Refuge , , 53 

III 

The Flight . , . . . . . . .57 

Dew . .58 

To-night 59 

Ebb Tide . . . . * ± - • .60 

fxl 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I Would Live in Your Love .... 61 

Because 62 

The Tree of Song 63 

The Giver 64 

April Song 65 

The Wanderer 66 

The Years 67 

Enough 68 

Come 69 

Joy 70 

Riches 71 

Dusk in War Time 72 

Peace 73 

Moods 74 

Houses of Dreams 75 

Lights 76 

"I Am Not Yours" 77 

Doubt 78 

The Wind 79 

Morning 80 

Other Men 81 

Embers 82 

Message 83 

The Lamp . . 84 

IV 

A November Night 87 



xi] 



LOYE SONGS 

BARTER 

Life has loveliness to sell, 

All beautiful and splendid things, 

Blue waves whitened on a cliff. 
Soaring fire that sways and sings, 

And children's faces looking up 

Holding wonder like a cup. 

Life has loveliness to sell. 
Music like a curve of gold. 

Scent of pine trees in the rain. 

Eyes that love you, arms that hold, 

And for your spirit's still delight. 

Holy thoughts that star the night. 

Spend all you have for loveliness. 
Buy it and never count the cost; 
[3] 



LOVE SONGS 

For one white singing hour of peace 

Count many a year of strife well lost, 
And for a breath of ecstasy 
Give all you have been, or could be. 



[4] 



TWILIGHT 

Dkeamily over the roofs 
The cold spring rain is falling; 

Out in the lonely tree 
A bird is calling, calling. 

Slowly over the earth 

The wings of night are falling; 
My heart like the bird in the tree 

Is calling, calling, calling. 



5] 



NIGHT SONG AT AMALFI 

I ASKED the heaven of stars 
What I should give my love — 

It answered me with silence, 
Silence above. 

I asked the darkened sea 

Down where the fishers go — 

It answered me with silence, 
Silence below. 

Oh, I could give him weeping, 
Or I could give him song — 

But how can I give silence, 
My whole life long? 



[6] 



THE LOOK 

Strephon kissed me in the spring, 

Robin in the fall, 
But Colin only looked at me 

And never kissed at all. 

Strephon's kiss was lost in jest, 

Robin^s lost in play. 
But the kiss in Colin's eyes 

Haunts me night and day. 



7] 



A WINTER NIGHT 

My window-pane is starred with frost, 
The world is bitter cold to-night, 

The moon is cruel, and the wind 
Is like a two-edged sword to smite. 

God pity all the homeless ones. 
The beggars pacing to and fro, 

God pity all the poor to-night 
Who walk the lamp-lit streets of snow. 

My room is like a bit of June, 

Warm and close-curtained fold on fold, 
But somewhere, like a homeless child. 

My heart is crying in the cold. 



[8] 



A CRY 

Oh, there are eyes that he can see, 
And hands to make his hands rejoice, 

But to my lover I must be 
Only a voice. 

Oh, there are breasts to bear his head, 
And lips whereon his lips can lie. 

But I must be till I am dead 
Only a cry. 



[91 



GIFTS 

I GAVE my first love laughter, 
I gave my second tears, 

I gave my third love silence 
Through all the years. 

My first love gave me singing, 
My second eyes to see, 

But oh, it was my third love 
Who gave my soul to me. 



[10] 



BUT NOT TO ME 

The April night is still and sweet 
With flowers on every tree; 

Peace comes to them on quiet feet, 
But not to me. 

My peace is hidden in his breast 

Where I shall never be; 
Love comes to-night to all the rest, 

But not to me. 



Ill] 



SONG AT CAPRI 

When beauty grows too great to bear 
How shall I ease me of its ache, 

For beauty more than bitterness 
Makes the heart break. 

Now while I watch the dreaming sea 
With isles like flowers against her breast, 

Only one voice in all the world 
Could give me rest. 



[12] 



CHILD, CHILD 

Child, child, love while you can 

The voice and the eyes and the soul of a man; 

Never fear though it break your heart — 

Out of the wound new joy will start; 

Only love proudly and gladly and well, 

Though love be heaven or love be hell. 

Child, child, love while you may, 
For life is short as a happy day; 
Never fear the thing you feel — 
Only by love is life made real; 
Love, for the deadly sins are seven. 
Only through love will you enter heaven. 



13 



LOVE ME 

Brown-thrush singing all day long 

In the leaves above me, 
Take my love this April song, 

"Love me, love me, love me!" 

When he harkens what you say, 
Bid him, lest he miss me, 

Leave his work or leave his play, 
And kiss me, kiss me, kiss me I 



14 



PIERROT 

Pierrot stands in the garden 
Beneath a waning moon, 

And on his lute he fashions 
A fragile silver tune. 

Pierrot plays in the garden, 
He thinks he plays for me, 

But I am quite forgotten 
Under the cherry tree. 

Pierrot plays in the garden, 
And all the roses know 

That Pierrot loves his music, - 
But I love Pierrot. 



15] 



. WILD ASTERS 

In the spring I asked the daisies 

If his words were true, 
And the clever, clear-eyed daisies 

Always knew. 

Now the fields are brown and barren, 

Bitter autumn blows. 
And of all the stupid asters 

Not one knows. 



[16] 



THE SONG FOR COLIN 

I SANG a song at dusking time 
Beneath the evening star, 

And Terence left his latest rhyme 
To answer from afar. 

Pierrot laid down his lute to weep, 
And sighed, "She sings for me." 

But Colin slept a careless sleep 
Beneath an apple tree. 



17 



FOUR WINDS 

"Four winds blowing through the sky, 
You have seen poor maidens die, 
Tell me then what I shall do 
That my lover may be true." 
Said the wind from out the south, 
"Lay no kiss upon his mouth," 
And the wind from out the west, 
"Wound the heart within his breast," 
And the wind from out the east, 
"Send him empty from the feast," 
And the wind from out the north, 
"In the tempest thrust him forth; 
When thou art more cruel than he. 
Then will Love be kind to thee." 



18 



DEBT 

What do I owe to you 

Who loved me deep and long? 
You never gave my spirit wings 

Or gave my heart a song. 

But oh, to him I loved, 
Who loved me not at all, 

I owe the open gate 
That led through heaven's wall. 



[191 



FAULTS 

They came to tell your faults to me, 
They named them over one by one; 
I laughed aloud when they were done, 
I knew them all so well before, — 
Oh, they were blind, too blind to see 
Your faults had made me love you more. 



[20] 



BURIED LOVE 

I HAVE come to bury Love 

Beneath a tree, 
In the forest tall and black 

Where none can see. 

I shall put no flowers at his head, 

Nor stone at his feet. 
For the mouth I loved so much 

Was bittersweet. 

I shall go no more to his grave, 
For the woods are cold. 

I shall gather as much of joy 
As my hands can hold. 

I shall stay all day in the sun 
Where the wide winds blow, — 

But oh, I shall cry at night 
When none will know. 
1211 



THE FOUNTAIN 

All through the deep blue night 

The fountain sang alone; 
It sang to the drowsy heart 

Of the satyr carved in stone. 

The fountain sang and sang, 
But the satyr never stirred — 

Only the great white moon 
In the empty heaven heard. 

The fountain sang and sang 

While on the marble rim 
The milk-white peacocks slept, 

And their dreams were strange and dim. 

Bright dew was on the grass, 

And on the ilex, dew, 
The dreamy milk-white birds 

Were all a-glisten, too. 
[221 



THE FOUNTAIN 

The fountain sang and sang 
The things one cannot tell; 

The dreaming peacocks stirred 
And the gleaming dew-drops fell. 



23 



I SHALL NOT CARE 

When I am dead and over me bright April 
Shakes out her rain-drenched hair, 

Though you should lean above me broken- 
hearted, 
I shall not care. 

I shall have peace, as leafy trees are peaceful 
When rain bends down the bough, 

And I shall be more silent and cold-hearted 
Than you are now. 



24] 



AFTER PARTING 
Oh, I have sown my love so wide 

That he will find it everywhere; 
It will awake him in the night, 

It will enfold him in the air. 

I set my shadow in his sight 
And I have winged it with desire, 

That it may be a cloud by day, 
And in the night a shaft of fire. 



25 



A PRAYER 

Until I lose my soul and lie 
Blind to the beauty of the earth, 

Deaf though shouting wind goes by, 
Dumb in a storm of mirth; 

Until my heart is quenched at length 
And I have left the land of men, 

Oh, let me love with all my strength 
Careless if I am loved again. 



26] 



SPRING NIGHT 

The park is filled with night and fog, 
The veils are drawn about the world, 

The drowsy lights along the paths 
Are dim and pearled. 

Gold and gleaming the empty streets, 
Gold and gleaming the misty lake, 

The mirrored lights like sunken swords. 
Glimmer and shake. 

Oh, is it not enough to be 
Here with this beauty over me? 
My throat should ache with praise, and I 
Should kneel in joy beneath the sky. 
O, beauty, are you not enough? 
Why am I crying after love. 
With youth, a singing voice, and eyes 
To take earth's wonder with surprise? 
[27] 



SPRING NIGHT 

Why have I put off my pride, 
Why am I unsatisfied, — 
I, for whom the pensive night 
Binds her cloudy hair with light, 
I, for whom all beauty burns 
Like incense in a million urns? 
O beauty, are you not enough? 
Why am I crying after love? 



28 



MAY WIND 

I SAID, "I have shut my heart 
As one shuts an open door, 

That Love may starve therein 
And trouble me no more." 

But over the roofs there came 
The wet new wind of May, 

And a tune blew up from the curb 
Where the street-pianos play. 

My room was white with the sun 
And Love cried out in me, 

"I am strong, I will break your heart 
Unless you set me free." 



129] 



TIDES 

Love in my heart was a fresh tide flowing 
Where the starlike sea gulls soar ; 

The sun was keen and the foam was blowing 
High on the rocky shore. 

But now in the dusk the tide is turning, 

Lower the sea gulls soar, 
And the waves that rose in resistless yearning 

Are broken forevermore. 



30 



AFTER LOVE 

There is no magic any more, 
We meet as other people do, 

You work no miracle for me 
Nor I for you. 

You were the wind and I the sea — 
There is no splendor anj^ more, 

I have grown listless as the pool 
Beside the shore. 

But though the pool is safe from storm 
And from the tide has found surcease. 

It grows more bitter than the sea, 
For all its peace. 



[31] 



NEW LOVE AND OLD 

In my heart the old love 
Struggled with the new; 

It was ghostly waking 
All night through. 

Dear things, kind things, 
That my old love said. 

Ranged themselves reproachfully 
Round my bed. 

But I could not heed them, 

For I seemed to see 
The eyes of my new love 

Fixed on me. 

Old love, old love. 

How can I be true? 
Shall I be faithless to myself 

Or to you? 

[321 



THE KISS 

I HOPED that he would love me, 
And he has kissed my mouth, 

But I am like a stricken bird 
That cannot reach the south. 

For though I know he loves me, 
To-night my heart is sad; 

His kiss was not so wonderful 
As all the dreams I had. 



[33] 



SWANS 

Night is over the park, and a few brave stars 
Look on the lights that link it with chains of 
gold, 
The lake bears up their reflection in broken bars 
That seem too heavy for tremulous water to 
hold. 

We watch the swans that sleep in a shadowy place, 
And now and again one wakes and uplifts its 
head; 

How still you are — your gaze is on my face — 
We watch the swans and never a word is said. 



34 



THE RIVER 

I CAME from the sunny valleys 
And sought for the open sea, 

For I thought in its gray expanses 
My peace would come to me. 

I came at last to the ocean 
And found it wild^ and black, 

And I cried to the windless valleys, 
"Be kind and take me back!" 

But the thirsty tide ran inland, 
And the salt waves drank of me. 

And I who was fresh as the rainfall 
Am bitter as the sea. 



35 



NOVEMBER 

The world is tired, the year is old, 
The fading leaves are glad to die, 

The wind goes shivering with cold 
Where the brown reeds are dry. 

Our love is dying like the grass. 

And we who kissed grow coldly kind. 

Half glad to see our old love pass 
Like leaves along the wind. 



36] 



SPRING RAIN 

I THOUGHT I had forgotten, 

But it all came back again 
To-night with the first spring thunder 

In a rush of rain. 

I remembered a darkened doorway 
Where we stood while the storm swept by, 

Thunder gripping the earth 

And lightning scrawled on the sky. 

The passing motor busses swayed, 
For the street was a river of rain, 

Lashed into little golden waves 
In the lamp light's stain. 

With the wild spring rain and thunder 

My heart was wild and gay; 
Your eyes said more to me that night 

Than your lips would ever say. . . . 
[37] 



SPRING RAIN 

I thought I had forgotten, 
But it all came back again 

To-night with the first spring thunder 
In a rush of rain. 



38 



THE GHOST 

I WENT back to the clanging city, 

I went back where my old loves stayed. 

But my heart was full of my new love's glory, 
My eyes were laughing and unafraid. 

I met one who had loved me madly 
And told his love for all to hear — - 

But we talked of a thousand things together, 
The past was buried too deep to fear. 

I met the other, whose love was given 
With never a kiss and scarcely a word — 

Oh, it was then the terror took me 

Of words unuttered that breathed and stirred. 

Oh, love that lives its life with laughter 
Or love that lives its life with tears 

Can die — but love that is never spoken 

Goes like a ghost throi]<ih the winding years. . . 
[391 



THE GHOST 

I went back to the clanging city, 

I went back where my old loves stayed. 

My heart was full of my new love's glory, 
But my eyes were suddenly afraid. 



40] 



SUMMER NIGHT, RIVERSIDE 

In the wild, soft summer darkness 

How many and many a night we two together 

Sat in the park and watched the Hudson 

Wearing her lights like golden spangles 

Glinting on black satin. 

The rail along the curving pathway 

Was lov7 in a happy place to let us cross, 

And down the hill a tree that dripped with bloom 

Sheltered us, 

While your kisses and the flowers, 

Falling, falling. 

Tangled my hair. . . . 

The frail white stars moved slowly over the sky. 



And now, far off 

In the fragrant darkness 

[41 



SUMMER NIGHT, RIVERSIDE 

The tree is tremulous again with bloom, 
For June comes back. 

To-night what girl 

Dreamily before her mirror shakes from her hair 

This yearns blossoms, clinging in its coils? 



[42] 



JEWELS 

If I should see your eyes again, 

I know how far their look would go — 

Back to a morning in the park 

With sapphire shadows on the snow. 

Or back to oak trees in the spring 
When you unloosed my hair and kissed 

The head that lay against your knees 
In the leaf shadow's amethyst. 

And still another shining place 
W^e would remember — how the dun 

Wild mountain held us on its crest 
One diamond morning white with sun. 

But I will turn my eyes from you 

As women turn to put away 
The jewels they have worn at night 

And cannot wear in sober day. 
[431 



II 

INTERLUDE : 
SONGS OUT OF SORROW 



I 

SPIRIT'S HOUSE 

From naked stones of agony 

I will build a house for me; 

As a mason all alone 

I will raise it, stone by stone, 

And every stone where I have bled 

Will show a sign of dusky red. 

I have not gone the way in vain. 

For I have good of all my pain; 

My spirit's quiet house will be 

Built of naked stones I trod 

On roads where I lost sight of God. 



[4; 



II 

MASTERY 

I WOULD not have a god come in 
To shield me suddenly from sin, 
And set my house of life to rights; 
Nor angels with bright burning wings 
Ordering my earthly thoughts and things; 
Rather my own frail guttering lights 
Wind blown and nearly beaten out; 
Rather the terror of the nights 
And long, sick groping after doubt; 
Rather be lost than let my soul 
Slip vaguely from my own control — 
Of my own spirit let me be 
In sole though feeble mastery. 



[48] 



Ill 

LESSONS 

Unless I learn to ask no help 

From any other soul but mine, 
To seek no strength in waving reeds 

Nor shade beneath a straggling pine; 
Unless I learn to look at Grief 

Unshrinking from her tear-blind eyes, 
And take from Pleasure fearlessly 

Whatever gifts will make me wise — 
Unless I learn these things on earth, 
Why was I ever given birth? 



49 



IV 

WISDOM 

When I have ceased to break my wings 
Against the faultiness of things, 
And learned that compromises wait 
Behind each hardly opened gate, 
When I can look Life in the eyes, 
Grown calm and very coldly wise. 
Life will have given me the Truth, 
And taken in exchange — my youth. 



50 



V 

IN A BURYING GROUND 

This is the spot where I will lie 
When life has had enough of me, 

These are the grasses that will blow 
Above me like a living sea. 

These gay old lilies will not shrink 
To draw their life from death of mine, 

And I will give my body's fire 
To make blue flowers on this vine. 

"O Soul," I said, "have you no tears? 

Was not the body dear to you?" 
I heard my soul say carelessly, 

"The myrtle flowers will grow more blue.' 



[51] 



VI 
WOOD SONG 

I HEARD a wood thrush in the dusk 
Twirl three notes and make a star - 

My heart that walked with bitterness 
Came back from very far. 

Three shining notes were all he had. 
And yet .they made a starry call — 

I caught life back against my breast 
And kissed it, scars and all. 



[52] 



VII 
REFUGE 

From my spirit's gray defeat, 
From my pulse's flagging beat, 
From my hopes that turned to sand 
Sifting through my close-clenched hand, 
From my own fault's slavery. 
If I can sing, I still am free. 

For with my singing I can make 
A refuge for my spirit's sake, 
A house of shining words, to be 
My fragile immortality. 



53 



m 



THE FLIGHT 

Look back with longing eyes and know that I 

will follow, 
Lift me up in your love as a light wind lifts a swallow. 
Let our flight be far in sun or blowing rain — 
But what if I heard my first low calling me again? 

Hold me on your heart as the brave sea holds the 

foam, 
Take me far away to the hills that hide your home ; 
Peace shall thatch the roof and love shall latch the 

door — 
But what if I heard my first love calling me once more? 



[57] 



DEW 

As dew leaves the cobweb lightly 

Threaded with stars, 
Scattering jewels on the fence 

And the pasture bars ; 
As dawn leaves the dry grass bright 

And the tangled weeds 
Bearing a rainbow gem 

On each of their seeds; 
So has your love, my lover, 

Fresh as the dawn, 
Made me a shining road 

To travel on. 
Set every common sight 

Of tree or stone 
Delicately alight 

For me alone. 



[58] 



TO-NIGHT 

The moon is a curving flower of gold, 

The sky is still and blue; 
The moon was made for the sky to hold, 

And I for you. 

The moon is a flower without a stem. 

The sky is luminous; 
Eternity was made for them, 

To-night for us. 



[59] 



EBB TIDE 

When the long day goes by 
And I do not see your face, 

The old wild, restless sorrow 
Steals from its hiding place. 

My day is barren and broken. 

Bereft of light and song, 
A sea beach bleak and windy 

That moans the whole day long. 

To the empty beach at ebb tide, 
Bare with its rocks and scars, 

Come back like the sea with singing. 
And light of a million stars. 



60 



I WOULD LIVE IN YOUR LOVE 

I WOULD live in your love as the sea-grasses live 

in the sea, 
Borne up by each wave as it passes, drawn doAvn by 

each wave that recedes; 
I would empty my soul of the dreams that have 

gathered in me, 
I would beat with your heart as it beats, I would 

follow your soul as it leads. 



61 



BECAUSE 

Oh, because you never tried 
To bow my will or break my pride, 
And nothing of the cave-man made 
You want to keep me half afraid, 
Nor ever with a conquering air 
You thought to draw me unaware — 
Take me, for I love you more 
Than I ever loved before. 

And since the body's maidenhood 
Alone were neither rare nor good 
Unless with it I gave to you 
A spirit still untrammeled, too, 
Take my dreams and take my mind 
That were masterless as wind; 
And "Master!" I shall say to you 
Since you never asked me to. 

[62] 



THE TREE OF SONG 

I SANG my songs for the rest, 

For you I am still; 
The tree of my song is bare 

On its shining hill. 

For you came like a lordly wind, 
And the leaves were whirled 

Far as forgotten things 
Past the rim of the world. 

The tree of my song stands bare 

Against the blue — 
I gave my songs to the rest, 

Myself to you. 



63 



THE GIVER 

You bound strong sandals on my feet, 
You gave me bread and wine, 

And sent me under sun and stars. 
For all the world was mine. 

Oh, take the sandals off my feet. 
You know not what you do; 

For all my world is in your arms, 
My sun and stars are you. 



64 



APRIL SONG 

Willow, in your April gown 
Delicate and gleaming, 

Do you mind in years gone by 
All my dreaming? 

Spring was like a call to me 
That I could not answer, 

I was chained to loneliness, 
I, the dancer. 

Willow, twinkling in the sun. 
Still your leaves and hear me, 

I can answer spring at last. 
Love is near me ! 



[65] 



THE WANDERER 

I SAW the sunset-colored sands, 
The Nile like flowing fire between, 
Where Rameses stares forth serene, 

And Amnion's heavy temple stands. 

I saw the rocks where long ago, 
Above the sea that cries and breaks, 
Swift Perseus with Medusa's snakes 

Set free the maiden white like snow. 

And many skies have covered me. 
And many winds have blown me forth. 
And I have loved the green, bright north. 

And I have loved the cold, sweet sea. 

But what to me are north and south. 
And what the lure of many lands. 
Since you have leaned to catch my hands 

And lay a kiss upon my mouth. 
[661 



THE YEARS 

To-night I close my eyes and see 

A strange procession passing me — 

The years before I saw your face 

Go by me with a wistful grace; 

They pass, the sensitive, shy years, 

As one who strives to dance, half blind with tears. 

The years went by and never knew 

That each one brought me nearer you; 

Their path was narrow and apart 

And yet it led me to your heart — 

Oh, sensitive, shy years, oh, lonely years, 

That strove to sing with voices drowned in tears. 



[67] 



ENOUGH 

It is enough for me by day 

To walk the same bright earth with him; 
Enough that over us by night 

The same great roof of stars is dim. 

I do not hope to bind the wind 

Or set a fetter on the sea — 
It is enough to feel his love 

Blow by like music over me. 



[68] 



COME 

Come, when the pale moon Hke a petal 
Floats in the pearly dusk of spring, 

Come with arms outstretched to take me, 
Come with lips pursed up to cling. 

Come, for life is a frail moth flying, 

Caught in the web of the years that pass, 

And soon we two, so warm and eager, 
Will be as the gray stones in the grass. 



69 



JOY 

I AM wild, I will sing to the trees, 
I will sing to the stars in the sky, 

I love, I am loved, he is mine. 
Now at last I can die ! 

I am sandaled with wind and with flame, 
I have heart-fire and singing to give, 

I can tread on the grass or the stars. 
Now at last I can Hve! 



[70 



RICHES 

I HAVE no riches but my thoughts, 
Yet these are wealth enough for me; 

My thoughts of you are golden coins 
Stamped in the mint of memory; 

And I must spend them all in song, 
For thoughts, as well as gold, must be 

Left on the hither side of death 
To gain their immortality. 



71 



DUSK IN WAR TIME 

A HALF-HOUR more and you will lean 
To gather me close in the old sweet way — 

But oh, to the woman over the sea 
Who will come at the close of day? 

A half-hour more and I will hear 

The key in the latch and the strong, quick tread 
But oh, the woman over the sea 

Waiting at dusk for one who is dead! 



72 



PEACE 

Peace flows into me 

As the tide to the pool by the shore; 

It is mine forevermore, 
It will not ebb like the sea. 

I am the pool of blue 
That worships the vivid sky; 
My hopes were heaven-high, 

They are all fulfilled in you. 

I am the pool of gold 
When sunset burns and dies — 
You are my deepening skies; 

Give me your stars to hold. 



73] 



MOODS 

I AM the still rain falling, 
Too tired for singing mirth — 

Oh, be the green fields calling. 
Oh, be for me the earth! 

I am the brown bird pining 
To leave the nest and fly — 

Oh, be the fresh cloud shining. 
Oh, be for me the sky! 



74] 



HOUSES OF DREAMS 

You took my empty dreams 

And filled them every one 
With tenderness and nobleness, 

April and the sun. 

The old empty dreams 

Where my thoughts would throng 
Are far too full of happiness 

To even hold a song. 

Oh, the empty dreams were dim 
And the empty dreams were wide, 

They were sweet and shadowy houses 
Where my thoughts could hide. 

But you took my dreams away 
And you made them all come true — 

My thoughts have no place now to play, 
And nothing now to do. 
[751 



LIGHTS 

When we come home at night and close the door, 
Standing together in the shadowy room, 
Safe in our own love and the gentle gloom, 

Glad of familiar wall and chair and floor. 

Glad to leave far below the clanging city; 
Looking far downward to the glaring street 
Gaudy with light, yet tired with many feet. 

In both of us wells up a wordless pity; 

Men have tried hard to put away the dark; 
A million lighted windows brilliantly 

Inlay with squares of gold the winter night. 
But to us standing here there comes the stark 
Sense of the lives behind each yellow light. 
And not one wholly joyous, proud, or free. 



[76] 



"I AM NOT YOURS'* 

I AM not yours, not lost in you, 
Not lost, although I long to be 

Lost as a candle lit at noon, 
Lost as a snowflake in the sea. 

You love me, and I find you still 
A spirit beautiful and bright. 

Yet I am I, who long to be 
Lost as a light is lost in light. 

Oh plunge me deep in love — put out 
My senses, leave me deaf and blind, 

Swept by the tempest of your love, 
A taper in a rushing wind. 



[77 



DOUBT 

My soul lives in my body*s house, 

And you have both the house and her — 
But sometimes she is less your own 

Than a wild, gay adventurer; 
A restless and an eager wraith, 

How can I tell what she will do — 
Oh, I am sure of my body's faith. 

But what if my soul broke faith with you ? 



78 



THE WIND 

A WIND is blowing over my soul, 

I hear it cry the whole night through 

Is there no peace for me on earth 
Except with you? 

Alas, the wind has made me wise, 
Over my naked soul it blew, — 

There is no peace for me on earth 
Even with you. 



[79] 



MORNING 

I WENT out on an April morning 
All alone, for my heart was high, 

I was a child of the shining meadow, 
I was a sister of the sky. 

There in the windy flood of morning 
Longing lifted its weight from me, 

Lost as a sob in the midst of cheering. 
Swept as a sea-bird out to sea. 



[80] 



OTHER MEN 

When I talk with other men 

I always think of you — 
Your words are keener than their words, 

And they are gentler, too. 

When I look at other men, 

I wish your face were there, 
With its gray eyes and dark skin 

And tossed black hair. 

When I think of other men. 

Dreaming alone by day, 
The thought of you like a strong wind 

Blows the dreams away. 



81 



EMBERS 

I SAID, "My youth is gone 

Like a fire beaten out by the rain, 
That will never sway and sing 

Or play with the wind again/* 

I said, "It is no great sorrow 
That quenched my youth in me. 

But only little sorrows 
Beating ceaselessly." 

I thought my youth was gone, 

But you returned — 
Like a flame at the call of the wind 

It leaped and burned; 

Threw off its ashen cloak. 

And gowned anew 
Gave itself like a bride 

Once more to you. 
[821 



MESSAGE 

I HEARD a cry in the night, 
A thousand miles it came, 

Sharp as a flash of light. 
My name, my name! 

It was your voice I heard, 
You waked and loved me so 

I send you back this word, 
I know, I know I 



[83] 



THE LAMP 

If I can bear your love like a lamp before me, 
When I go down the long steep Road of Darkness 
I shall not fear the everlasting shadows. 
Nor cry in terror. 

If I can find out God, then I shall find Him, 
If none can find Him, then I shall sleep soundly, 
Knowing how well on earth your love sufficed me, 
A lamp in darkness. 



[84] 



IV 



A NOVEMBER NIGHT 

There! See the line of lights, 
A chain of stars down either side the street — 
Why cant you lift the chain and give it to me, 
A necklace for my throat f Fd tivist it round 
And you coidd play with it. You smile at me 
As though I were a little dreamy child 
Behind ivhose eyes the fairies lixe. . . . And see, 
The 'people on the street look up at us 
All envions. We are a king and queen, 
Our royal carriage is a motor bus. 
We watch our subjects with a haughty joy. . . . 
How still you are! Have you been hard at ivork 
And are you tired to-night f It is so long 
Since I have seen you — four whole days, I think. 
My heart is crowded full of foolish thoughts 
Like early floivers in an April meadow. 
And I must give them to you, all of them, 
[87] 



A NOVEMBER NIGHT 

Before they fade. The people I haw met, 

The play I saiv, the trivial, shifting things 

Thai loom too big or shrink too little, shadows 

That hurry, gesturing along a imll. 

Haunting or gay — and yet they all grow real 

And take their proper size here in my heart 

When you have seen them. . . . There's the Plaza 

now, 
A lake of light! To-night it almost seems 
That all the lights are gathered in your eyes, 
Draivn somehow toward you. See the open park 
Lying below us with a million lamps 
Scattered in wise disorder like the stars. 
JVe look doivn on them as God must look down 
On constellations floating under Him 
Tangled in clouds. . . . Come, then, and let us walk 
Since we have reached the park. It is our garden, 
All black and blossomless this winter night. 
But we bring April with us, you and I ; 
We set the whole world on the trail of spring, 
[88] 



A NOVEMBER NIGHT 

/ think that every path we ever took 

Has marked our footprints in mysterious fire. 

Delicate gold that only fairies see. 

When they icake up at dawn in hollow tree-trunks 

And come out on the drowsy park, they look 

Along the empty paths and say, "Oh, here 

They went, and here, and here, and here! Come, see, 

Here is their bench, take hands and let us dance 

About it in a windy ring and make 

A circle round it only they can cross 

When they come back again ! " . . . Look at the 

lake — 
Do you remember how we watched the swans 
That night in late October ivhile they slept? 
Sivans must have stately dreams, I think. But noio 
The lake bears only thin reflected lights 
That shake a little. Hoiv I long to take 
One from the cold black icater — new-made gold 
To give you in your hand! And see, and see, 
There is a star, deep in the lake, a star! 
r89l 



A NOVEMBER NIGHT 

Oh, dimmer than a yearl — if you stoop down 
Your hand could almost reach it up to me. . . . 

There was a new frail yellow moon to-night — 
/ wish you could have had it for a cup 
With stars like dew to fill it to the brim. . . . 

How cold it is! Even the lights are cold; 
They have put shawls of fog around them, see ! 
What if the air should grow so dimly white 
That we ivould lose our way along the paths 
Made neic by walls of moving mist receding 
The more toe folloto. . . . What a silver night ! 
That was our bench the time you said to me 
The long new poem — but how different now, 
Hoiv eerie with the curtain of the fog 
Making it strange to all the friendly trees! 
There is no wind, and yet great curving scrolls 
Carve themselves, ever changing, in the mist. 
Walk on a little, let me stand here watching 
To see you, too, grown strange to me and far. . . 
[90] 



A NOVEMBER NIGHT 

/ used to wonder how the park ivould be 
If one night we could have it all alone — 
No lovers with close arm-encircled waists 
To whisper and break in upon our dreams. 
And notv we have it! Every wish comes true! 
We are alone now in a fleecy world; 
Even the stars have gone. We two alone! 



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[91] 



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Rivers to the Sea 



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The Cycle of Spring : A Play 

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